Category Archives: Christian Life

11 BY THE WAY…WHAT IS REAL FREEDOM?

Christian Life, ,

Freedom is a buzz word these days. Everyone wants to be free. Society is full of people who so badly want to be free that they break every rule in the book in the name of “freedom”! 

The trouble is that this so-called freedom may free up behaviour but it enslaves the heart to the worst kind of bondage…to sin…to a conscience that never keeps quiet …until it stops working. A silent conscience is a sinister warning…not freedom but a dangerous delusion! 

“The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.”

‭‭1 Timothy‬ ‭4‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭NIV‬‬

In context, Paul was writing about people who taught religious scruples that had nothing to do with the gospel. In the broader context, those who follow their false beliefs with either false self-righteousness or unrestrained behaviour end up with a conscience that fails to register truth. Either way, they have traded a conscience that is programmed by truth to a conscience that registers nothing but approval for whatever they believe and do. A dead conscience is the worst kind of freedom because there is no longer any warning or caution on the downward slide towards the fire. 

So, what is true freedom and how can we live within its boundaries and experience its benefits?

There are two steps and a progression towards freedom. The progression begins with a change of allegiance and a change of direction. There can never be freedom while the self is in control. The self will always demand gratification. Gratification will always act in self-interest at the expense of others…leading to sin…and registering guilt. 

The first step towards freedom is to answer the call to follow Jesus. Union with Jesus and obedience to Him is God’s design and the only way that works. He, in turn, leads us towards the righteousness which provides the boundaries inside which we find the freedom we crave.  

Let me illustrate.  

A toddler is a free agent…a little person who can do anything it desires if left to itself. How can a parent keep a toddler safe? By providing the boundaries within which it is free to play. A mother would never allow her little one to play in a garden without a fence and a secured gate. 

For us, who was want to be truly free, we need the “fence and gate”of Jesus’ word, provided by the relationship of true disciples…step number one in this progression…

“Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings.”

‭‭John‬ ‭8‬:‭31‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Jesus’ teachings form the boundary fence of our safety.  Safety from what? Safety from the bondage to sin..and the guilt, shame, and fear that follow sinful behaviour, words, and attitudes. 

Jesus’ teachings are not only the fence that keeps us safe. Following His teachings also leads us to real freedom. 

“And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

‭‭John‬ ‭8‬:‭32‬ ‭NLT‬‬

So, you see, to be really free…free from slavery to sin and the haunting guilt of an accusing conscience…simply knowing the truth is not enough. Real freedom is the end result of…

…following and learning from Jesus…

“Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭11‬:‭28‬-‭30‬ ‭NLT‬‬

…and obeying His commandments…

“If you love me, obey my commandments.”

‭‭John‬ ‭14‬:‭15‬ ‭NLT‬‬

In the end, there is only one person who can unlock the prison doors and set us free…

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭61‬:‭1‬ NIV

Who is He?  Jesus!

“Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

‭‭John‬ ‭8‬:‭34‬, ‭36‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The world says that freedom is to kick over all the traces…to live without boundaries… according to every desire and appetite. God’s Word tells us that, to be truly free, we must go back to the beginning, where God made humans to be in harmony and partnership with Him. The only way to do this is to renounce the right to self-rule…to hand over one’s life to the authority of Jesus…and to receive from Him the nature and power to become a true disciple and follower. That’s the only freedom that works. 

8 BY THE WAY…ONE THING

Christian Life, ,

There are three people and three occasions when the expression, “One thing” is used in Scripture. Three people…these are the most illustrious, the most well known of all the people in Scripture…

David…the model king and forerunner of Jesus, Israel’s final and eternal king. David was the human ancestor of the Messiah, who was born of David’s human dynasty…Jesus, the son of David. 

“One thing”… When did David speak these words? He wrote them as an expression of desire and purpose in one of his most beautiful psalms…a prayer to which God responded…and will always respond. 

“The one thing I ask of the Lord— the thing I seek most— is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, delighting in the Lord’s perfections and meditating in his Temple.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭27‬:‭4‬ ‭NLT‬‬

This prayer has an answer and a sequel which I will explain in a moment. 

The Hebrew words David used to express his longing give us the breadth of his idea. He wanted to sit down, to settle in God’s house…the place where God lived…to gaze at and contemplate God’s splendour with delight…and to (“plough”, literally) inspect the capacity of His palace or temple. 

David’s desire might have been to remain forever in the place where he met God…but the temple had not yet been built…and the tabernacle was in Shiloh, not in Jerusalem… so David had set up tent of worship in his home city, Jerusalem. I think that what he really wanted was to be in God’s presence, to be aware of Him, always, wherever he was. 

At this point in the history of God’s people, His presence, in their understanding, was confined to a place…the tabernacle in the wilderness…then in Shiloh… and, eventually, the temple in Jerusalem. 

God’s answer came in a simple invitation…

“My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.” And my heart responds, “Lord, I am coming.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭27‬:‭8‬ ‭NLT‬‬

David was to learn that God’s presence was not in a place but wherever he was, a breath and a call away, not someone he could see but someone whose voice he could hear. 

“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭139‬:‭7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The second time this expression was used was in the mouth of Jesus Himself…an accolade to Mary of Bethany. Martha, the older sister, was resentful towards Mary, demanding Mary’s presence in the kitchen while Mary had chosen to sit at Jesus’ feet.  

Jesus’ rebuke was kind, gentle, but telling. “Many things, Martha…you have chosen to give your attention to many things…distractions…ordinary things. Mary has chosen one thing!”  

What was the difference? Martha’s attention was split among many things.  Mary’s was focused on the one thing that mattered. Did this mean that Mary would do only one thing her whole life? No! This meant that Mary would build her whole life around one thing. 

However, Mary had one lesson to learn before she could offer her devotion to Jesus completely, without strings attached. 

Fast forward to another scene in Bethany. Lazarus was dead. Mary was devastated, disillusioned, her faith in Jesus utterly destroyed. The one on whom she had pinned all her hopes had failed her. He didn’t come in time to save her brother. 

Her rebuke was loaded with accusation.  

“When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

‭‭John‬ ‭11‬:‭32‬ ‭NLT‬‬

…the same words as Martha had used but uttered from a broken heart. 

Jesus wept, His heart bleeding for the woman who had lost her “one thing” before He could finish what He had started. She had not yet learned to trust Jesus for who He was, not for what she wanted. 

Now look at “the Mary” after Lazarus was given back to her, alive and well…her “one thing” confirmed and sealed. 

“Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance.”

‭‭John‬ ‭12‬:‭3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

…not the odour of death and loss but the fragrance of pure devotion. 

Mary was His forever, pouring out her best on Him…unconditionally bound to Him by a faith that could never again be shaken. 

The third “one thing”…the one that completes our understanding of where the “one thing” must land…comes from the pen of Paul…

“No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”

‭‭Philippians‬ ‭3‬:‭13‬-‭14‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“The end of the race”…”the heavenly prize “…the language of the Olympic Games…not a laurel wreath but a crown…crowned.with righteousness…the new nature…a new image…a perfected identity…a replica of Jesus Himself

In John’s language…

“Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is.”

‭‭1 John‬ ‭3‬:‭2‬ ‭NLT

 There three “one things” are going somewhere. David wanted to gaze. Mary wanted to sit. Paul chose to strive…to reach the goal.  They all wanted to land at the same place…the image of Jesus…and the process was the same…being in the presence of Jesus. 

“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭3‬:‭18‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Gazing…contemplating…the key to being transformed…becoming…full circle…everything that God intended for His sons and daughters to be from the beginning…just like Jesus. 

6 BY THE WAY…CONTEXT MATTERS

Christian Life, ,

It’s amazing what we can make the Bible say when we pull a text out of context. I’ve written about some of these things before but let me highlight some of them again to illustrate what I mean. 

My first observation relates to Jesus’ trip with His disciples to Caesarea Philippi. Granted, the average reader may not understand the background to this region or the significance of what Jesus said to them there…so here goes!

Caesarea Philippi and its surrounds, a region in the north of Israel at the foot of Mount Hermon and near the source of the Jordan River, was the centre both of Caesar worship and the worship of the pagan god, Pan, right there in the land of Israel. 

“Caesarea Philippi is an ancient site at the base of Mount Hermon in northern Israel, famous for a massive natural spring that feeds the Jordan River. In the New Testament, it is the backdrop for Jesus’ conversation with Peter where he made his famous declaration about building his church. 

History and Geography

  • Located about 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee.
  • Known originally as Paneas for the Greek god Pan, whose shrine sat by a cave once viewed as a gateway to the underworld.
  • Renamed Caesarea Philippi by Herod Philip to honor Caesar and himself.
  • Filled with pagan temples, including shrines to Zeus and Augustus. 

Biblical Significance

  • Recorded in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark.
  • The setting where Jesus asked, “Who do you say that I am?”
  • The location of Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Christ.
  • The site of Jesus’ promise: “On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it”.(Source: Google AI)

Why did Jesus take His disciples to the site of such disgusting and depraved human behaviour? He wanted to make a very important point. 

At the base of the huge rock near the city was a temple to Pan. Statues of Pan and other gods, worshiped by pagans, were placed in niches carved into the rock. A grotto a the base of this massive rock face was the source  of a major spring that fed the Jordan river…which pagans called “the gate of hell” because they believed that it was the gateway to the netherworld. 

In sight of the sexual orgies of pagan worship carried out in this region, Jesus asked His disciples…

…“Who do you say I am?””

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭16‬:‭15‬ ‭NIV‬‬

At that moment, the disciples were forced to make the distinction between what they were seeing and what they were learning about the rabbi they were following. As usual, Peter responded on their behalf…

“Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭16‬:‭16‬ ‭NIV‬‬

There is huge significance in Peter’s reply because, in his words, he got it right but, in his understanding, he got it wrong. (This will be my next observation). 

Jesus’ question and His reply to Peter’s answer give us the clue to His purpose for taking them there. It was a “hands on” lesson about who He was and what His mission was to accomplish. Against the backdrop of pagan debauchery, and in the very places where this behaviour was visibly practised, He would build His church. On this rock! Which rock? 

Could it be that Jesus meant…not Peter, as so many believe and nor even Peter’s confession…that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of  God…but on the very rock, and  places like this all over the world where idolatry was the religion of the people, Jesus would establish His rule and His kingdom in the hearts of those who were once pagans like these in places like these. 

Take Ephesus as a case in point. Ephesus was the centre of the worship of Diana…Artemis…another fertility goddess with all its disgusting behaviour.  After Paul had  preached the gospel there, something amazing happened…

“While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus….Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God….God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them. When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭19‬:‭1‬, ‭8‬, ‭11‬-‭12‬, ‭17‬-‭20‬ ‭NIV‬‬

This is exactly what Jesus meant when He said, “On this rock I will build my church…!” On the very sites where pagan worship happened, His truth would transform lives and become places where His body, the church, would live and grow, and be His witnesses. 

Jesus’ question to His disciples was the crux of their relationship with Him. The realisation of who He really was…and especially after His death and resurrection…would be the driving force of their mission to tell the world that Jesus is Lord. They had to see the power of who he was against the backdrop of the worst of pagan idolatry…and be convinced that it was His yoke…His yoke? His yoke…

“In Jewish culture of that time, a teacher’s “yoke” meant his specific interpretation of God’s law and how to live it out.” Google AI 

…that would change hearts and transform lives …from false beliefs and pagan idolatry to humble believers and followers of Jesus. 

5 BY THE WAY…TO WHO DOES THE FRUIT BELONG?

Christian Life, ,

The Bible says a lot of things about a lot of things…like fruit, for example, but… I don’t plan to do an exhaustive study on fruit. Let me rather tell you a story. 

Many years ago, during the days of my tempestuous marriage, I was on a roller coaster ride between anger and resentment and misery and repentance for my bad attitude when life got rough at home. One morning, in my utter despair, I fell on my knees before the Lord and cried out to Him for deliverance. 

He showed me a picture. 

I was walking in a beautiful walled  garden, full of flowers and fruit but…there was a wild beast in the garden, trampling the flowers and knocking the fruit off the trees as he raged through the flowers beds and orchards. I cried out to the Lord “Who will save my garden from this beast?”

“Turn around,” the Lord said. The scene changed. I was in a tomb. I turned around…the beast was lying dead on the floor of the tomb. The old beast of myself, my sin nature with all its wicked responses, was dead. I did need to destroy the flowers and fruit in my “garden” any more. 

Then the scene changed again. I was back in the garden but, this time, the garden was flourishing…no beast to destroy its beauty. As I walked along the paths, smelling the flowers and enjoying the scenes, the Lord said to me, “You may enjoy the garden but you may not eat its fruit. The fruit belongs to me.”

I’ve often thought about that vision You and are to bear fruit…the fruit of union with Jesus…abiding in the vine. Jesus spoke of this union with His disciples before He left them…fruit that grew from His life in us…the life of the vine flowing into the branches. That life, the “sap” of the vine, is His life-giving word abiding in us. 

Paul spoke of the “fruit of the Spirit”…the character of Jesus being formed in us as we walk in and live by the Holy Spirit who lives in us. However, we must ask…”To whom does this fruit belong, and who gets to enjoy the fruit?” Is it our fruit? 

It cannot be our fruit because the best fruit we can produce is the fruit of the old sinful life at work in us. The fruit that the Holy Spirit forms in us belongs to Jesus and it is His to enjoy as He watches how we live, how we think and act as His children and the citizens of His kingdom. 

What is this fruit that grows on the branches of the vine?  His fruit grows from our three-way relationships…

First…our relationship with God…Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You see, everything we are, do, and become must have its source in God. We must have roots that grow deep into the soil of God’s love. (When I speak of God, I speak of the Godhead who is the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). 

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”

‭‭Colossians‬ ‭2‬:‭6‬-‭7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

In fellowship with God, we flourish in the fragrant air of His presence…love…joy…and peace and…slowly…we become like the whose air we breathe. 

Second…we begin to carry the atmosphere of heaven as we relate to the people around us. Patience, kindness, goodness are the fruit of the love, joy, and peace that we breathe in the presence of God. The fruit is slowly growing on the branches. 

Third…the patience, kindness, and goodness we show to others seeps into our own souls…forming the fruit of our inner life…faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control…

…a beautiful nine-flavoured fruit that delights the heart of God. 

“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”

‭‭Galatians‬ ‭5‬:‭22‬-‭23‬ ‭NLT‬‬

If we try to enjoy this fruit, it will spoil in us but…through pride and self-effort but… to Jesus, our fruit is delicious and full of flavour because it is the evidence of the nature of the tree from which it grows…the Lord Himself. 

So, don’t eat your own fruit. It belongs to Jesus. Let Him delight in who and whose you are. Our fruit is for His honour and the Father’s glory. 

“This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

‭‭John‬ ‭15‬:‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

4 BY THE WAY…STAY IN YOUR LANE

Christian Life, ,

In the Christian life, there are two things that are not in our job description…judging and controlling others. How often we hear, in the many discussions about the goings-on in our country…the investigations about political interference…that police and politicians must “stay in their lane”…that is…they must only operate within their legitimate structures. 

This is also true of our lives as God’s children. 

At the beginning of creation, God gave humans the mandate to rule over the earth as His authorised representatives…to manage the earth and its creatures but…never to rule over one another. He gave the woman to the man as an equal partner. Together, they would populate the earth…fill it with people who would work together to organise a functional planet. 

What went wrong?

The pair changed allegiance…from God’s rule to self-rule…and, under Satanic influence, and with the change, came chaos. One of the first changes was a shift in the original authority structure…from equal partnership to unequal dominance. This shift was not God’s plan. It was a consequence. 

Why? Was it because Eve did something “outside of her lane”? She took the initiative to mislead her husband. The instruction not to eat from the “tree of good and evil” was given to Adam. The temptation to defy God’s instruction came to Eve. 

Eve did not refer the serpent’s alluring offer to her husband as her partner. She acted independently. Did God change the chain of command… enforce Adam’s authority over Eve by placing her under him instead beside him because she stepped outside of her lane?

“To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭3‬:‭16‬ ‭NIV‬‬

However we view this consequence, God changed the architecture of this relationship in the context of marriage as a result of their defection. From the Hebrew words, it seems that God purposefully put the woman under the thumb of her husband. However, it was not God’s deliberate purpose but sin’s consequence that caused this rupture in the marriage relationship. 

“In Genesis 3:16, the phrase “your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you” describes a fractured relational dynamic resulting from the human fall into sin. The Hebrew word for desire (teshuqa) and the word for rule (mashal) point to an internal power struggle and an adversarial dynamic within marriage.” (Source: Google AI)

God’s blueprint for marriage was clearly stated when He made Eve out of Adam. He took the woman out of the man physically and gave her back to him emotionally, psychologically, and sexually to become one…a new one, “echad”…as God is “echad”…one. 

“The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.”

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭2‬:‭23‬-‭24‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The Hebrew word “basar”, translated “flesh”, has the idea of a fresh kind or species.  Adam was one…single, alone. Then God took Eve out of Adam, gave her back to him, and made them “one…echad” a “fresh kind”. Their inseparable, unified life together was a picture of God.

What sin broke, Jesus restored. With renewed hearts and spirits, He calls us back to what God made this partnership to be in the beginning. 

“Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭5‬:‭22‬-‭28‬, ‭31‬-‭33‬ ‭NIV‬‬

God also introduced a new dynamic into this marriage partnership…The oneness in marriage has a new foundation…a new motivation…a new model… and a new meaning… the relationship between Jesus Christ and His church. 

In this interaction, the “lanes” are very clear. The wife is both an equal partner under the headship of her husband but only as the second-in-command.  She honours (gives him weight), and respects his person and his role…

“In the Bible, respect means giving honor, high value, and deep recognition to the worth of God and other people. It is tied to love and humility. The Bible commands believers to respect all humans because God made everyone in His image.”

In turn, the husband sacrificially serves his wife as Jesus served and gave His life for His church. 

Within the boundaries of the New Covenant, the lanes are clearly defined and…when they are honoured and adhered to…order in the home and in society are restored. 

Giving weight to, that is, honour and respect, to one another’s person and role in the marriage relationship has spinoffs in the home and in society. “Staying in one’s lane” also means giving one another the right to make choices and decisions without intrusion, coercion, or manipulation. 

Control is a leftover from the brokenness of Eden. Jesus removed that impulse to control by giving us back our place and privilege in His kingdom. Each of us is a free agent living under God’s authority and accountable to Him, not primarily to one another. 

“For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭14‬:‭7‬-‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

If these “lanes” were truly and faithfully honoured (given “weight”) in our relationships, we would be going a long way towards a more peaceful and harmonious society. 

Let’s begin in our homes and in our church family.